The 14-year-old from Royal Palm Beach is a member of the Ultimate All Stars West Palm Beach Senior Level 2 cheerleading team that competed in the recent Ultimate State Bash at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. The event was presented by Bash Spirit Cheer and Dance Company and featured 61 teams from around the state.

Chojnowski, a freshman at Wellington High School, has been cheerleading for just two years but has kept pace with her teammates and would like to be back at FAU as a college cheerleader.

"I know that colleges have scholarships and opportunities, so we are here working hard to reach our goals," Chojnowski said. "Being in this (FAU) gym helps. It gets stressful at times (in big competitions), but we just talk to each other and calm each other down."

Chojnowski and her teammates spend 15 hours a week in the gym, but the competitions come down to just a 2-minute, 30-second routine.

"It's tough because we work so hard and put in a lot of hours practicing, but we only have a small amount of time to show what we can do," Chojnowski said.

Boca Raton's Sally Chapman, 13, is a competitive cheerleader on the Boca Extreme Senior Level 2 team. She started cheerleading at age 7.

"I like it because it is a big family and I can get away from all of the drama at school and just have fun with my friends at practice," said the seventh-grader at Boca Raton Middle School.

Chapman said the sport is very demanding.

"There is a lot of conditioning, practicing and going full out all the time. It is intense and it's very nerve-racking because you don't want to let your team down," Chapman said. "I just think about the team and how hard we work in the gym and it takes away those nerves. It's a lot of fun."

Chapman said the team competes in about seven events a year. She relishes the role of being a flier for her team, meaning she is tossed in the air or on the tops of pyramids on a regular basis during stunts.

"I love being a flier," Chapman said. "You are always seen, and it is great being up in the air. You also have to have a lot of trust in your bases and back spot so you don't fall. I want to be a high school and college cheerleader."

Wende Saucier, owner of Wellington-based Bash Spirit Cheer and Dance Company, was thrilled with the turnout for the Ultimate State Bash, which drew 1,200 athletes from throughout South Florida, including representatives from as far as Naples and Port St. Lucie.

Saucier said she runs four events during the year: two at FAU and one each in western Boca Raton and Jacksonville. The second competition at FAU will be in March.

Cheerleading competitors ranged from ages 5-18, with divisions for elementary, middle and high school. They competed in single stunts as well as teams in Levels 1 through 5, with the latter having the hardest difficulty rating with more stunting and tumbling.

"It's a great opportunity for all of the kids to come out here and show their skills," said Saucier, who has been staging competitions for five years. "My whole point of this is to keep the kids busy and they have something that they can come to that is affordable, safe and keeps them out of trouble."

The FAU event also served as a warm-up for some teams to hone their skills for national competitions and world qualifiers.

"We don't have a world qualifier," Saucier said. "You have to get a bid to it, and you need to go to a qualifying competition to get a world bid."

There has been a rise in the sport since cheerleading became more mainstream with televised competitions and high school sanctioning several years ago.

"It has come very far," Saucier said. "It is not like going out on the field and cheering for the football team anymore. It is a very down-to-earth, hardcore competition."

The sport can also be expensive. Gyms and high school teams will hire choreographers to put together routines for the competitions. That cost is generally divided among the athletes.

"It is a very, very expensive sport," Saucier said. "Gyms will go out and spend anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 per child, plus you have travel and hotel costs. They are very hardcore. A lot of kids, this is their life. You get scholarships for colleges now. It has come such a far way, and it is so different from many years ago."